Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 5: Gomes' single wins it

Friday

BOSTON -- Relegated most of the time to coming off the bench, it doesn't take until the late innings for Gomes to start thinking about coming to the plate in a big spot.

BOSTON -- Relegated most of the time to coming off the bench, it doesn't take until the late innings for Gomes to start thinking about coming to the plate in a big spot.

"I was thinking that about 2 o'clock in the afternoon when I got here," he said.

What Gomes wanted to do when he came up with the bases loaded and one out on Friday night was to hit the ball in the air. The last thing he wanted to do was hit the ball on the ground so it couldn't be turned into a double play -- but he instead hit a sharp line drive at the feet of Toronto third baseman Maicer Izturis.

You've got to try to simplify things and try to elevate the ball," he said. "Worst-case scenario there is a double play. ... It scared me for a second, but once it got through, it was all right."

Once it got through, it plated Shane Victorino with the go-ahead run of a 7-5 win for the Red Sox over the Blue Jays, their fourth straight. Koji Uehara closed out the win with a 1-2-3 inning, his third save in as many nights.

Gomes might be hitting just .217 with a .324 on-base percentage in his first season in Boston, but he's hitting .321 with a .463 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position. He's hit two home runs and is slugging over .900 as a pinch-hitter. And in late and close situations -- like the one in which he hit for Daniel Nava on Friday night -- he's hitting .400 with a slugging percentage of .667.

"With the bases loaded, as disciplined as he is with the strike zone, one way or another, we felt like he was going to come through in that situation," Boston manager John Farrell said.

Rather than ready for prime time, Allen Webster looked shell-shocked in each of his last two starts in the major leagues. Justin Morneau and the Minnesota Twins knocked him out of one start in early May in the second inning, and Victor Martinez hit a grand slam off him in the first inning last Saturday in Detroit.

After each of his first two starts, the Boston brass sent the 23-year-old Webster back to Triple-A Pawtucket and left him there for a while. But after his start in Detroit -- seemingly encouraged by the way he settled down after the Martinez grand slam -- the Red Sox opted to put him through a five-day routine under their supervision and to give him another start Friday at Fenway Park.

Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and Jon Lester all talked to him at times this week, giving him pointers about how to go about his between-starts routine.

"A couple of the starters have been pulling me aside, helping me out, telling me what they do each start, trying to get a good routine up here," the baby-faced Webster said.

By no stretch of the imagination was Webster dominant on Friday, but he was effective. He threw a career-high 100 pitches in his six innings, striking out three and walking two. He didn't get nearly the number of swings and misses he got last time out -- five, well down from the 21 he got in Detroit -- but he got 11 ground-ball outs. No Toronto batter hit the ball in the air in the second, third or fourth innings.

"I was trying to keep the ball down, throwing my two-seam down, trying to get them to put it in play down on the ground," he said.

Webster even was in line for his first career win before Bailey gave up a solo home run to Edwin Encarnacion in the seventh inning. Throwing mid-90s heat for the first time in weeks, the ousted closer struck out Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista before Encarnacion hit a rocket into the center-field bleachers.

Bailey has given up five home runs in his last seven appearances, a span in which his ERA is 16.20. Both of his appearances since he was removed from the closer role have come in one-run games in the seventh inning.

Stephen Drew hit a two-run triple in the second inning on a line drive that sent Colby Rasmus crashing into the center-field fence, jarring the ball out of his glove as soon as it landed there.

Drew hit a one-out double off the Green Monster in the fourth inning but clutched his right hamstring as soon as he stood up. He left the game, replaced by reserve Brandon Snyder.

After Jose Iglesias singled to right field and stole second, a two-run single by Jacoby Ellsbury sent Johnson to the showers. Five of the last 10 starters to face the Red Sox have been knocked out in the sixth inning or earlier, including three of the last four. Five straight starting pitchers have given up at least four earned runs to the Red Sox dating back to Detroit's Justin Verlander last Sunday.

Twitter: @brianmacp

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